Nightmares from Ecopoint
by DJMirnum
Summary: Mei may have left Ecopoint but the memories have haunted her. Will a certain archer realize her pain and help her?


**So I was inspired by the Mei short Blizzard released called "Rise and Shine" and knew this would make plot line for a fic. Enjoy!**

Mei was considered to be an upbeat person. Always smiling and trying to see the bright side of things. Sure there were times when she did frown, get angry and even cry and those were times people knew that things were bad if she felt they were bad. But, she got better at hiding it though. The only ones who really knew her was Snowball, her robot companion and Hanzo. He always seemed to know what was bothering her and would provide a listening ear for her or a shoulder to lean on. He's never seen her cry though; a frown, an angry or annoyed look maybe but her tears seemed to be never seen by him. Hanzo wanted to know why but, Mei would tell him when she was ready. Hanzo had just finished a training session and was about to head to his room when he heard whirring and beeping and a small robot appeared in his face.

"Snowball? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Mei?"

The little flying robot's eyes looked sad and it was darting around in a frantic manner. Hanzo didn't really understand what it was saying but it looked like it was upset.

"What's wrong," Hanzo asked again.

Snowball nudged Hanzo in the chest and pushed him a bit. Hanzo sensed the robot wanted him to follow it.

"Show me the way."

Snowball darted back the way Hanzo came in a hurried manner and Hanzo did his best to catch up. Snowball led Hanzo to the science labs, to the one that Mei used frequently. She was apparently still sorting through all the data gathered at Ecopoint Antarctica while she and her colleagues went into cryogenic sleep. Mei was the only survivor after nine years. Mei told everyone a little bit of how she managed to get out of the base but not the details. Especially about what happened to her colleagues. Doctor Zeigler and Winston presumed that the power loss of the batteries at the facility might have caused something to malfunction but Mei's managed to work until it woke her up. They knew that if Mei had slept a little longer, she would have met the same fate. Mei worked day and night to get all the data sorted and analyzed with the help of Winston, Athena and Snowball but Mei knew what information to look for so she mostly just handled it herself. Sometimes, she would end up falling asleep at her desk after a long night. And every time she woke up, a blanket was draped over her shoulders and a cup of coffee in her favorite mug, a blue murloc mug. For a while, she thought Winston did it but Snowball showed a clip of who did it, Hanzo. The thought that a stoic and stern man like Hanzo doing something like this was so sweet to her, it made her stomach flutter and her cheeks turn red. But the hardest thing about sleeping while working was the nightmares. Flashes of her colleague's lifeless faces haunted her. The red "Malfunction" letters and the flat line of vitals constantly reminded her of what happened and how it didn't seem fair that she survived and they didn't. Even seeing Snowball being drained of power and having no way of getting it back made the feeling of being powerless and alone in the dark base made it even worse. That always frightened her and she would sometimes be jolted awake by something in her dream of either being crushed by ice or having her blaster blow up in her face. Each time left her heart racing, cold sweating and tears in her eyes. She wondered if Hanzo ever noticed them but he would have said something if he did. This nightmare was even worse than before. This time, she was awake to see all the chambers malfunction and there wasn't anything she could have done to stop it. She ran back and forth trying to save her friends and co-workers but seeing each chamber flat line caused tears to form in her eyes. She sobbed, there was no Snowball to comfort her this time and then, things went dark and cold. Mei was used to the cold but it was starting to get unbearable. She shivered and curled into herself to keep warm. She continued to weep as she didn't notice something approach her. It was dark and scary looking and a frosty hand reached for her. Mei flinched and cried out when she felt it touch her shoulder. She heard it speak.

Hanzo saw Mei slumped over her work scattered on her desk. He should have known she would be working again. He's tried to reason with her and ask her to sleep in her bed once in a while but she insisted she would be fine. The last few times she fell asleep at her desk, he noticed her expressions looked pained and he did hear soft whimpering. But once he placed a blanket around her and gave her coffee, she relaxed. Hanzo wanted to ask her about what he thinks are nightmares that she is having but felt it wasn't his place to talk to her about them. But this time, she was actually crying and twitching. She began to shiver and take short breaths. He needed to wake her up and get her to calm down. He touched her shoulder and Mei flinched and let out a small shriek. That's when he spoke up.

"Mei! Mei! Wake up!"

Mei's eyes shot open and she flailed and fell out of her chair. Hanzo managed to catch her and pulled her to him. Mei looked scared and whipped her head wildly trying to figure out where she was and what happened. She was staring to hyperventilate.

"Mei, it's alright, it's alright. Breathe with me," said Hanzo in a calm voice.

The two began to breathe deeply together and Mei began to calm down a little. Hanzo noticed how tight her grip was on his shirt but it didn't matter to him. If gripping onto him brought her back to reality, he'd let her squeeze him.

"Are you alright," he asked.

Mei looked up at him and the sight broke his heart. Her almond brown eyes were filled with tears, her hair disheveled and her bottom lip was quivering.

"H-Hanzo," she whined.

Hanzo buried her face in his chest. She cried again, her body shook from her sobbing. He just rubbed her back and cradled her head to help her feel better. Mei grew quiet and Hanzo stayed silent while she steadied her breathing.

"How did you…," she asked.

"Snowball got me."

The little robot beeped and whirred at the acknowledgement. Mei felt grateful to the little snow bot to get the one person who could help her feel better.

"Was that another nightmare?"

Mei flinched again and raised her head to meet his gaze. Did he know she'd been having multiple nightmares? And why didn't he ask?

"Yes, but, if you knew why didn't you say something?"

"I know what having nightmares about your past failures are like. It is not always easy to talk about with others but the right person or persons should hear it and help you through. It took me a while to realize it when Genji found me after one of many I had happened. I knew I needed to be honest about them and I waited for you until you were ready."

Mei was shocked and awed by what this man said. She looked down and breathed deep to gather her courage.

"Can we, go somewhere more private? Winston might come by and I don't feel ready to tell everyone else," she asked quietly.

"I think I know a place," whispered Hanzo.

Before either knew what was happening, Hanzo kissed her forehead and gently took Mei's hand leading her to a more comfortable and private area just for them. Mei's face turned red at the gesture and so did Hanzo's when he realized what he did.


End file.
